Inanimate
by Allora Gale
Summary: It didn't take long for the spirit of galactic cooperation to wear off. Especially with the Mass Relays destroyed and a dozen alien species trapped on Earth. All it takes is the Krogan starting a war for certain contingency plans to be put into action.
1. 1: A Disturbing Revelation

**Inanimate**

**A Mass Effect Fanfic**

**By: Allora Gale**

****Chapter 1: A Disturbing Revelation

Liara had . . . mellowed. At least, she liked to think she had mellowed in the last century since helping to defeat the Reapers and giving birth. No more suicide missions. No more charging into the unknown with only a hope and a prayer to ensure her survival.

She was responsible now. A mother. A former Asari representative. A well respected member of society, even despite her species. Goddess knew that wasn't easy these days. The human's had been grateful to the refugees that had been left on Earth in the wake of the Reaper invasion and the destruction of the Mass Relays at first.

But those sentiments had soon worn off.

In the wake of the Reaper invasion, the human population had been practically decimated. They didn't have the numbers to sustain their previous balance of power. And instead, they had refugee populations of a dozen alien races that needed a place to live – refugees who had, in many cases, left their own worlds to burn as they had come to Earth's aid for the final fight with the Reapers.

Without the numbers they had previously enjoyed, the humans were afraid that they would lose control over their home planet. It hadn't take long for some human politicians to begin a pro-human campaign that would have made Cerberus proud had the organization survived. But then, perhaps the Illusive Man had been right, and Cerberus couldn't be killed by mere bloodshed.

Most aliens chose to remain on the small, token reserves of land the humans had deemed to grant each species in the wake of the invasion rather than be subject to the ridiculous taxes and restrictions that were placed on aliens in human cities. At least on the Settlements the laws were upheld by members of their own species. In her case, she was lucky. Maybe it was just that the Asari shared a similar physiology with humans, but they could live in human settlements without the same degree of rampant racism as other species, like the Turians or Salarians.

She had tried to counter this trend during her time in office, but humans were a stubborn people and unreceptive to negotiation with those they considered threats. For ten years she had served as the Asari representative in what was left of the Council. The Citadel was almost dead in space after the Crucible's destructive discharge had forced the Reapers to withdraw and destroyed the Mass Relays. Today, it was primarily inhabited by Quarians and had lost all of it's galactic influence.

Without the Citadel to act as neutral ground for all of the species to come together, anyone who wasn't human was at the mercy of human politics. The Council still existed, in a way, though it had lost most of it's power and had to defer to the human Councillor's will in almost every decision. It was a raw deal, and she had worked tirelessly during her time in office opposing legislation that would restrict aliens on Earth until she had been forced to resign by the human Councillor.

It was not an ideal situation, but with the memory of war with the Reapers still fresh in their minds and with their populations still recovering, there was nothing anyone could really do about it. Courtesy prevented the Asari from interfering with the governance of the human home world. It was the same with the Turians and Salarians, and the Vorcha and Batarians didn't have the numbers to do anything about it even if they wanted to.

It was discouraging, but Liara had retired from politics. She had briefly forayed back into her first passion. But the thrill of discovery had quickly worn off. Archaeology on Earth was not the same profession she was familiar with. She had decades of experience digging up Prothean ruins and studying ancient Prothean technology dating back fifty million years. Looking at cobbled together stone tools and early metalworking dating back less than an Asari lifetime ago had gotten old really fast. It had been mildly entertaining to learn about how quickly humans had developed, but it hadn't been enough to keep her attention.

Instead, she had returned to her other job. Though her sphere of influence had been greatly diminished, information was still a commodity of high demand. The Shadow Broker was still alive and well in the Sol system. She had agents inside of every government on the planet, as well as on the Citadel in the pockets of civilization in the ruins orbiting Earth. There wasn't a city on the planet that didn't feed her information about the who's who of Earth, be they human, Turian, Salarian, Krogan or Asari.

Which was how she had come across the piece of information currently scrolling across her holo terminal. It wasn't the first time she was viewing it, but she couldn't help coming back to it. She almost couldn't believe it. Almost couldn't understand how the humans could be so shortsighted and cruel.

But the information was what it was and it wasn't the first time something like this had come across her desk. One other time, a century ago, when human colonies in the Traverse were going mysteriously missing, a very similar report had been sent to her.

She closed the report as she heard intruders outside the door to her office. Her family. The people she cared most about in the galaxy. Her daughter Janezeia and Septim Nero, the stoic and chivalrous Turian she had taken as her partner. His disapproval of the anti-alien trend in human politics was quieter than her own, but no less vehement.

"Mother." Janezia said with a smile as she came in. It had been a while since they'd seen each other. Unlike Liara, Janezia was discontent with living in a predominantly human city and had withdrawn to the remote Asari concession in the Canadian north to join a commando unit. Janezia was more like her . . . other mother . . . than she had ever been like Liara.

"Janezia," She greeted with an equally warm smile. "How was your flight?"

"Not bad." The girl shrugged. She was nearing maturity now, almost a full century since she'd been born and was Liara's pride and joy. She was strong and righteous and everything a good daughter should be. "Not long. I slept most of the way. Glad Septim came to pick me up though, traffic was crazy on the way over here. It's human's Christmas, right?"

"Yes, but that's not why I asked you to come." Liara said, ignoring the way the girl still refused to call Septim 'Dad' or 'Father'. He wasn't really, but it was still polite. It wasn't that Janezia disliked him, or like she was doing it to snub him. By all accounts, she was extremely fond of the Turian.

But years ago, when the girl had been little more than a child, she had asked who Liara's partner had been. She'd refused to answer. Janezia had been stubborn even then and had sworn up, down and sideways that she would never acknowledge another as her 'father' until she knew who had contributed the other half of her DNA.

Thus far, they had both stood firmly in their camps, unwilling to bow to the other. It was an argument Liara had been prepared with maintain indefinitely. Until now.

"Is that so?" Janezia asked mischievously. "How mysterious. Did she tell you what this was about?" The girl asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at Septim.

"Of course not. I'm as in the dark as you." Septim said with a shrug. "You know your mother. The illusive Shadow Broker gets a kick out of secrets."

Which was fair, she supposed. She didn't really get a kick out of it, but there was still something about it – about the thrill of discovery – that appealed to her. Perhaps going from archaeologist to information broker wasn't really that far of a stretch.

She sighed as they poked fun at her, enjoying the carefree moment. Something told her it would be the last such moment she would be experiencing for a while. When they'd finally exhausted the most easily accessible jokes at her expense, she reined them in and back to her purpose.

"Have a seat, both of you." She said, gesturing to the pair of sleek, but comfortable leather armchairs across from her desk. They followed the order and waited, any further attempts to dispel the tension with humour abandoned.

"Okay, so spill it." Janezia finally said when she hesitated one last time. "What world-shattering secret have you discovered this time?"

"I'm going to tell you about your other parent." She answered, getting straight into it. "You always knew that my partner was a human, but I had all record of my time with them erased, primarily for our protection." Then she brought up an old holo of her and Shepard. It was an old image, from back on the first Normandy when they'd been racing Saren to the Conduit, always a step behind but determined to catch up. The image was still, but it didn't take much to imagine the motion, to see Shepard reaching to embrace her with a wide, loving smile on her lips. Tali had taken the image secretly, a candid of the infamous Shepard when she wasn't being 'the Commander'.

It was the only image that had ever been taken of just the two of them.

"What are you saying?" Janezia asked in bewilderment, staring at the holo. "Did you hit your head?"

"Shepard was nothing like what you've learned. The humans have bastardized her memory to suit their own purposes and made her into something she hated. She was never anti-alien of human-first, as the humans would have you believe. She had multiple aliens on her crew. I was one of them." She answered.

At first, she'd erased herself from the records of anything having to do with Shepard so as not to shame her memory. Even as the Asari representative, she had maintained her information networks – much of which was steeped in illegal activity, while Shepard was being practically deified by the survivors of the invasion. Later, when Tali was assassinated by the human government for outspokenly protesting the way they were using Shepard's memory for their own gain – even going so far as to say that Shepard would be turning in her grave if she could see what they were doing to her memory – her disassociation with Shepard had become more for her own protection and the protection of her newborn daughter.

It the humans couldn't tolerate verbal dissent, they would have never accepted an Asari daughter of the woman they liked to call the perfect human.

"That's . . . that's . . ." Janezia said, still at a loss for words. "Wait, are you saying she's my parent? That Commander Shepard, the epitome of human perfection, is my parent? She was your partner?"

Liara nodded mutely. Part of this was liberating. She had fully expected to carry this secret with her to her grave. But the Alliance had now forced her hand. She could not let this stand.

"So why tell us now?" Septim asked, taking over for Janezia who was still coming to terms with the new information. He had been kept in the dark as well.

"I have uncovered some disturbing information from my contacts within the Alliance." She explained. "It's common knowledge that Shepard was killed when the first Normandy was destroyed by the Collectors. It's also common knowledge that she was brought back to life by Cerberus. It seems that when we destroyed Cerberus headquarters, the information for Project Lazarus somehow fell into Alliance hands. I haven't managed to track how the Alliance got the information exactly, I only know that they received it.

"When rescue parties retrieved what was left of Shepard's body on the Citadel, they restarted the program. They rebuilt her as a safeguard against a return of the Reapers. They rebuilt her. Again." She growled, her tone turning icy. "Then they put her in cryogenic stasis so that she would always be at her prime if they should need her."

The revelation was met with the horrified silence the situation was due. Bad enough that they hadn't left Shepard alone, that they hadn't allowed her the peace that death brought. But it was so much worse to learn that they'd then frozen her in time, as though she were nothing more than a weapon to be used in times of trouble. The Alliance had treated as though she wasn't even a person. As though she were a tool and nothing more deserving of basic sentient rights than a gun or a bomb.

"As you know, the Krogan have been expanding into human settlements over the last ten years." She began to explain.

"Invading, you mean." Janezia corrected. Which was true.

Liara nodded. "As you know, even despite their fewer numbers, the Krogan have yet to be stopped. Admiral Raleigh recently proposed that Shepard be thawed and put to use against the Krogan. The reasoning being, I suppose, that if she can take down Reapers, she can certainly take down Krogan."

She paused for a moment, letting it sink in before finishing her speech. "I'm going to rescue her."

* * *

><p>AN: The first chapter of a new fic is always so exciting. I should really be working on my other works in progress, but since finishing the ME3 storyline, this plot hasn't left me alone. Actually, the premiss was written after I finished ME2, but without knowing the details of the final fight against the Reapers, I didn't feel like I could adequately tell the story.<p>

I will be juggling this story with my two other works in progress, so updates should come at about a monthly basis - providing it takes me a week to write a chapter for each fic - give or take. We'll see. I have the first three chapters of this sucker done, so those should come out quickly.

Anyway, let me know what you think. I don't usually write same sex pairing, but I always played Shepard as a woman and it just to happened the the only save file I had that included both ME1 and ME2 had her paired with Liara. In any case, even if the pairing isn't really your cup of tea, this fic isn't really going to be romance centered.

Don't forget to review.

Allora


	2. 2: Every Closed Eye Is Not Sleeping

Chapter 2 : Every Closed Eye Is Not Sleeping . . .

Gaining access to the Alliance facility that was housing Shepard was easier than it should have been. It was a top secret facility that was fronting as a pharmaceutical company, and perhaps they thought the lax security would work better to keep the contents secret than a highly fortified installation. In a way, she supposed it had worked. It had slipped under her radar for decades now and it was only Admiral Raleigh's proposal that had alerted her to the situation.

Or it could just be that she was over-prepared.

She had learned everything she knew about risky operations from Shepard. So she had been sure to cover all of her bases and to draw on every advantage she could. She'd contacted the Geth, who, despite becoming individuals with Shepard and Tali's help, still regularly shared their thoughts and experiences through consensus.

They'd remembered her. More importantly, they'd remembered Shepard. Thanks to the consensus even the newer platforms were capable of 'remembering' everything Shepard had done for them. Her first attempt to gain Geth Hunter stealth technology had been rebuffed for fear of creating a political incident until she'd explained that she only needed three units and that those units would be used to rescue Shepard from the icy prison she was being kept in before the Alliance could use her like a fighting dog on a leash.

Janezia shifted beside her, only the slight shimmer of displaced air giving away her location as they waited in an abandoned hallway in the Alliance facility for a scientist in the next room to finish packing up his things. She hadn't entertained much hope of her daughter staying out of this. She'd been sceptical and reluctant at first, but once she'd come to terms with the fact that Shepard was really her parent, there was no way to deter Janezia from coming along.

She was a fully trained commando that had been trained for infiltration and sabotage. This was Janezia's forte and, if she was honest, Liara was happy to have her along. It was reassuring having someone she could completely trust at her back for this. If something went wrong, she knew that she, as the former Asari councillor, she was risking a diplomatic incident herself. It was possible that if she was caught, the Alliance would take it out on the Asari people in general.

She forced her mind away from the discouraging thought. Even if she succeeded, measures would have to be taken to keep Shepard's existence a secret. She'd already begun constructing a new identity for Shepard. The papers were all ready and waiting on her desk back at home. The legendary Jane Shepard would become Alice Marler, an average thirty year old human woman. She'd get the normalcy that she'd been robbed of by the Reaper invasion and get to live her life the way it should have been.

"Finally." Janezia muttered under her breath as the middle-aged human scientist juggled his briefcase while trying to slip his jacket on. When he'd finally disappeared into the elevator, they slipped silently into the lab the man had just vacated and straight to the door on the other side, without stopping to look at the variety of consoles dotting the lab.

Treasure troves as they would no doubt be, today she wasn't here as the Shadow Broker. Today, she was Dr. Liara T'soni, Shepard's long time friend and lover. Today, she was the woman who had stood at Shepard's side when she'd taken down Saren and when she'd made that last dash for the portal to the Citadel during the invasion of Earth.

The second they entered the cold storage lab, their Geth stealth systems shuddered. The shields remained intact, straining under the adverse temperature, but the steam from their breath was easily visible. If anyone walked in on them now, they wouldn't be hard to spot.

Not that she intended to be there long.

"Watch the door." She ordered to Janezia before making her way further into the freezing chamber. The room was kept at sub-zero temperatures, but no matter how chill the temperature, it was nothing compared to the ambient temperature within the stasis pod holding Shepard.

Shepard wasn't actually hard to find. Amidst shelves of frozen specimens and no doubt top secret research experimants, stood a seven-foot long stainless steel case. Inside, she knew, Shepard lay waiting, neither dead nor wholly alive, but kept in stasis in between.

"Glyph," She ordered, activating her omni-tool. The little sphere of light that she'd once envisioned as a newer version of Vigil glowed into existence. "Run interference in their network. I don't want them to know we're accessing the controls in here."

"As you wish, Doctor." The VI said, the glow surrounding it going from blue to amber to indicate that it was busy fulfilling her request.

Liara nodded to herself, eyes travelling up the smooth exterior of the stasis chamber in front of her. It wouldn't be long now, she assured herself before going to work on the thawing controls.

* * *

><p>It was the vacuum of space, quiet and endless, but this time somehow less deadly. This time there was no panic. No suffocation. No terrifying free fall as she was caught by Alchera's gravity and plummeted planet-side. No certainty of impending death – but at least she'd gotten that stubborn bastard Joker out alright.<p>

This time she was fearless.

Actually, it was the lack of fear that was so terrifying. A part of her knew she was supposed to be experiencing the most potent of terrors. Because the vacuum of space around her wasn't an empty void. Before her, as far as the eye could see rested Reaper after Reaper after Reaper. An army of giant squid-shaped ships hovering in close orbit around a burning sun. Derelict.

Nothing moved, but she could feel them watching her with their cold, dead eyes – no, they were sensors, inorganic things that they were. It was just her and them in all the immensity of space, staring each other down.

And she could hear it now, the low, steady hum that was at the same time familiar and foreign. It was white noise, easily ignored except for the utter silence of everything else in the universe. Then, a variance in the hum.

_". . ."_

She frowned, listening to the not-quite sound. How could she explain it? She felt like she was missing something.

_". . . .pard . . ."_

Pard? A familiar syllable. She knew that, though it wasn't complete.

"_Shepard." _

Yes. That was it. She was Commander Shepard. That was her name. And someone was calling her.

She took one last look at the Reaper army amassed in front of her, reassuring herself that all was still and silent as it should have been. The Reapers were dead.

_"Shepard. Wake up. We don't have much time."_ The voice called again.

She opened her eyes, blinking blearily in the dim light before focusing on the face hovering over hers. A face she knew she would never forget.

"Liara." She whispered hoarsely, voice rough and cracked. Vaguely, she wondered how long she'd been out this time, but that was of secondary importance because Liara had survived. She breathed out in relief, feeling it seep through her as reached up to draw her lover into a brief, gentle kiss. She'd been so worried. She'd known it was a long shot, known that there would be casualties during their final assault against the Reapers, but she had hoped Liara wouldn't be one of them.

"Shepard." Liara smiled sadly. "Can you move?"

"What's going on?" She asked, forcing herself to sit up and take stock of her surroundings. It wasn't any kind of med bay she was familiar with.

"I'll explain later." The Asari bargained, impatiently urging her to get up.

"Are we in danger?" She asked, immediately pinpointing the tension in Liara's voice.

"Not this second, but we will be if they find us. Here, this is a Geth stealth system." Liara said, installing the program into her omni-tool.

"We've got three minutes before security begins a manned sweep of this floor." A voice called softly from the door.

She checked her surroundings again, noting the shimmer and puff of breath near the door. It seemed Liara hadn't come alone, though her team seemed small.

"Are you ready?" Liara asked.

She nodded, slipping into the mind of a soldier. She had plenty of questions. Where was she? Why was she there? Why did Liara feel the need to sneak her out of wherever she was? Generally just what the hell was going on? But all of that could wait. She had a mission. She had to get off of this floor within three minutes and that was an objective that was more important than her curiosity.

She pushed herself to her feet, feeling light-headed and exhausted, as though her entire body was boneless, but she toughed through it, looking around for a weapon, which Liara supplied with a small, knowing smile. She activated the stealth system with her omni-tool, watching as Liara did the same and disappeared into an ephemeral shimmer of distorted light.

Their escape, it turned out, was not the action-packed adventure she'd been expecting. There were no hostiles in the halls. No automated turrets or security mechs. No patrolling mercenary squads. Just empty linoleum corridors lined with heavy doors on either side and an equally empty stairwell.

She followed Liara's lead, trusting that the Asari had a better grasp of the situation than she did. Until she knew exactly what was going on, command of their little infiltration unit was best left in someone else's hands. So she followed, out of the building and across the parking lot to a warehouse down the street housing a shuttle. Only then, carefully out of sight with the door closed firmly behind them, did Liara let the stealth system drop.

Liara let out a little laugh, the kind people let out when they couldn't believe they'd gotten away with whatever they'd just done. Shepard let her own stealth field slip away and watched Liara as the Asari's gaze danced over her form, drinking up the details as though she'd forgotten them.

"Shepard." Liara finally breathed.

"What's going on, Liara?" She asked. Now was the time for her questions to be answered. "What was that place?"

"That was a cryogenic freezing lab." Liara answered, then hesitated. "How . . . what's the last thing you remember?"

She frowned, thinking hard about the question. She remembered their goodbye. She remembered Liara letting her into her mind, a final mind meld and a precious gift should the worst come to pass. She remembered fighting. She remembered barely making it through waves of Brutes and Shriekers on her way to . . . to the portal to the citadel – to the one last hope for galactic life. She remembered the Citadel, ripe with the stench of decaying bodies. Anderson and the Illusive Man . . . and she remembered the Catalyst posing one last question for her.

She glanced away and down at her feet, clothed in only black slippers that matched the rest of the thin spandex body suit she was wearing.

"You do remember." Liara surmised. But then, Liara had been inside the deepest parts of her mind. It wasn't surprising that she could read her like a book.

"I died. . . again." She answered, feeling sick with the knowledge.

Liara nodded. "I only just found out, but the Alliance rebuilt you. It seems plans from Cerberus' Project Lazarus fell into Alliance hands when we destroyed their headquarters and they decided to put them to use."

"Of course they did. No rest for the wicked, right?" She grumbled. "How long have I been out this time?"

Liara hesitated again. "It's been one hundred and seven years since you defeated the Reapers."

She almost slipped, almost let her legs turn into the gelatinous mass they had been threatening to turn into this entire time. "It took them a century to do what Cerberus did in two years?" She demanded.

Okay, granted Cerberus had had cutting edge technology and had been willing to throw every resource they'd had at getting her back up and operational, but the Alliance wasn't comprised of complete idiots. They'd built the Crucible, hadn't they? And the Normandy? And while she probably shouldn't be comparing the human body's complexity to that of a ship, she was practically half machine now anyway, wasn't she?

"No, Shepard. I don't know when they finished your reconstruction, but at some point during the process they decided that your talents were wasted during peacetime. You were the tip of the spear against the Reapers, remember? It was only through your efforts that we stood a chance at all. They wanted to preserve you in case of a Reaper resurgence." Liara explained, tone both sad and guilty.

_"That was a cryogenic freezing lab."_

The words came back to her with the full force of their meaning. She'd been deep frozen, put on ice until they needed her to save everyone's asses once again.

"God." She exhaled, letting the revelation knock the breath out of her. Betrayal was nothing new in her books, but this . . . this wasn't even . . .

"Let's go home." Liara suggested softly, gently guiding her towards the transport. It was only then that she noticed the other Asari waiting nearby. The other woman waited until she'd made eye contact before stepping forward.

"I'm . . ." She hesitated over the title. If a century had passed, she probably still didn't hold rank in the Alliance. "Jane Shepard." She said, offering her hand.

"I'm Janezia T'soni." The Asari introduced, shaking her hand firmly.

"T'soni?" She asked in surprise, gaze tracking back across to Liara.

For the first time since they'd met, Liara looked genuinely shamed and guilty. "She's . . . my daughter, Shepard. She's . . . your daughter."

Because the world had made perfect sense before this revelation . . .

"What?" She demanded incredulously. She hadn't know Liara could even get pregnant . . . well she had known . . . and they had been together, it was just that she was under the impression that Asari chose when they wanted to conceive and . . . oh . . .

"I should have told you, but you had so much riding on your shoulders already and I knew the chances were slim that we'd ever get a happily ever after. I didn't want you to feel responsible or guilty if the worst happened." Liara explained.

It hurt to know that Liara had omitted this crucial information, even though she understood the reasoning behind it. She understood all too well. If she'd known that Liara had chosen to conceive, it wouldn't have changed anything except make the choice she'd had to make – to sacrifice herself – all the more painful.

"It's okay." She said softly, turning back to the woman who's hand was still firmly clasped around her own, delicate blue fingers contrasting clearly against her pale skin. "I guess I'm a bad parent." She said with a deliberately light shrug. Physically, Janezia took after Liara, though that was to be expected. She was Asari, through and through. Shepard's human DNA had only been used to create variety in Liara's predominant traits.

"I don't know about that. I bet you could kick the butts of all of my friends' parents. So I get bragging rights at least." The girl said with a teasing smirk.

She chuckled. It seemed Janezia hadn't inherited Liara's lacking sense of humour at least. "In all seriousness though, I'd like to get to know you better."

Janezia smiled. "I'd like that."

* * *

><p>AN: Another short chapter, but the next one will be longer, I promise. The next chapter also picks up a bit in the way of political intrigues. But let me know what you think of this chapter, ya?<p>

Oh, and for those of you waiting for the next chapter of my other fic Dauntless, it's done and at my beta's awaiting proofreading. It will be uploaded as soon as he's done with it.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Allora


	3. 3: The Shadow Behind the Scene

Chapter 3: The Shadow Behind the Scene

Liara was surprised that they had gotten away with it. She'd closed up everything on their way out, resealing the cryo chamber and reinitiating it's cooling sequence. No one would know that Shepard was missing until they went to wake her up and Glyph had erased any trace of them being there.

It was a bit thrilling. A bit liberating. After a century at the mercy of the human Alliance, after being forced out of office by humans, she'd just pulled one over on them. She'd stolen their idol – their most holy of relics – and they didn't even know it yet.

And Shepard . . . Shepard was adapting well. But that was what she did. Shepard adapted. Shepard survived – no, she thrived. She made the best of every situation thrown at her, and this was no different. If anything, she had prior experience at being resurrected. At being thrown into a world she no longer knew.

That wasn't to say that this wasn't a tougher transition than when Cerberus had rebuilt her, but Shepard was trying. Shepard spent most of her time with Janezia, becoming better acquainted and bonding. They were practically inseparable, a feat likely accredited to Shepard's uncanny people skills. Janezia wasn't exactly shy but she didn't usually go out of her way to spend excessive amounts of time with people she wasn't very familiar with.

Janezia had postponed her return to the Asari Concession, New Thessia, in order to spend more time with Shepard, which Liara was glad of because she couldn't really see herself filling that void. She'd anticipated the potential awkwardness that would come from Shepard meeting Septim, but she hadn't been fully prepared for the reality of this discomfort. Or the feeling of shameful infidelity that floated around with her whenever they were both in the house at the same time.

There hadn't been any jealous arguments or possessive posturing from either party. Shepard had simply shaken the Turian's hand in greeting with a small smile and had promptly refrained from speaking on the subject. Septim had followed her lead and it seemed like they were waiting for her to make the decision.

Which was difficult.

She loved Shepard, and she always would. Shepard had made her into the woman she was today. If she'd never met the human Commander, she would have never have had the guts and daring to set up shop as an information broker, or to take out the Shadow Broker. She would have never known what it was like to risk everything, to know that imminent death was only a hair's breadth away, and go through with it anyway to ensure the greater good. Without Shepard, she would have never have had the nerve to stand as a representative of her people.

Shepard had always been a step ahead, an ideal to aspire to. She had bettered herself, become more than what she had been, in order to make herself more worthy of standing in Shepard's shadow. She'd forced herself to grow outside of the quiet, socially-awkward archaeologist that had managed to trap herself inside of a Prothean security system on Therum.

Septim was the opposite.

Where Shepard was always dragging her along with her - trials by fire proving that she was strong enough and righteous enough to stand par -, Septim was always a step behind her in silent, steady support. Septim was the foundation of her life here, a rock to stand on and an anchor that made sure she'd never fall.

He cherished and supported her, making her feel as though nothing were beyond her grasp. Ever a step behind, the force that pushed her forward and made her a power to be reckoned with.

Even the thought of choosing one over the other seemed perverse. She loved them both, but she couldn't discard either one for the sake of the other. She hadn't anticipated this – hadn't stopped to fully think over the consequences of rescuing Shepard. At the time, the only thing running through her head had been that those bastards had frozen Shepard like some lab sample and that she had to get her out of there.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Janezia invading her office, the bright, teasing smile she'd been wearing all week replaced by something more serious.

"Mother." She greeted with a brief, military-esque nod. This was the face her daughter wore at work – the face of an Asari commando Captain.

"What's wrong?" She asked immediately. Whatever it was, the news couldn't be good.

"I've been recalled. There was an incident with some humans in New Thessia. We're bracing for reprisals." Janezia explained.

"What happened?" She asked again, tone darkening slightly.

"Some idiot humans assaulted a Matriarch. Of course she killed them." Janezia said. "But it seems like one of them was the son of someone important. You'll probably know more than I ever will about the particulars. I really have to go now. I . . . I haven't told Jane yet. I was hoping you'd do it for me. I know you're kind of trying to shield her from the alien-human situation until she's more . . . comfortable."

"Jane?" Liara asked in surprise. She didn't know anyone who had ever referred to Shepard by her given name. Even she had never dared to say it. She was Shepard. Or Commander. Or for those with no sense of propriety, Lola. But never Jane.

Janezia shrugged. "She told me to call her that. It saved us from the whole awkward 'father' thing."

"I see." She said, and she did see. Shepard was trying to make up for lost time – trying to get to know her daughter and was willing to allow Janezia a concession she'd never allowed to anyone else. Her name – a foundation of her very being.

". . . She misses you. You should spend some time with her instead of hiding out in your office as though you regret ever waking her up." Her daughter chided.

"That's not -"

"I know." Janezia interrupted, hands held up in mock surrender. "I've got to go, Mother. I love you."

She let the girl go, unwilling to call her back just to argue. She didn't regret rescuing Shepard. She would never regret rescuing Shepard. Shepard deserved better than being held in a deep freeze by the very government she had tirelessly served. But Janezia was right. She was being a bit cowardly by not facing Shepard directly.

* * *

><p>Shepard was still trying to come to terms with everything. Bad enough when it had been Cerberus. She'd found it hard to cope when she'd lost two years of her life, when she'd stayed still while the world moved on without her. But this was on a completely different kind of scale. Over a century had passed.<p>

Most of the people she had known were now dead. It was only the long lived Asari and, maybe, some Krogan if they'd survived the slaughter of the invasion, that would still be around. Everyone else . . . Garrus, Kaidan, Tali, Joker, Admiral Hackett . . . everyone . . . they were all dead. They all had to be dead or in their last gasps of life if they'd held on this long. Probably senile.

She sighed, staring out at the stretch of rugged coastline outside the window. She'd seen a lot of pretty views in her life, but Kaidan had been right. This was beautiful. English Bay. Janezia had explained to her that a friend of Liara's had convinced them to settle down here on the Sunset Coast. That friend could only have been Kaidan. He'd loved this place and had repeatedly talked about how, in his opinion, it was the best place in the world.

She wondered if he'd made it back here, if his mother had survived the invasion. Had he had a home to go back to? Unlike Garrus, Liara and Tali, who had been stranded here on Earth because she'd had to destroy the Mass Relays.

The decisions she'd made weighed heavily on her, and perhaps that decision was the heaviest. But it had also been a bit liberating knowing that she wouldn't have to live with the consequences. Well, she _shouldn't_ have had to live with the consequences, but apparently the Alliance had had other plans.

Terrified idiots.

How many resources had they wasted on bringing her back when they could have been training new soldiers and rebuilding Earth? What had they hoped that she could do alone if the Reapers really had come back? She wasn't the reason the Reapers were gone. That had taken the combined effort and sacrifices of every fleet in the galaxy.

She sighed in annoyance. Having so much hope dumped on her shoulders was almost worse than having ninety percent of the population in Council space doubt her sanity. Almost. It had been somewhat vindicating when the Reapers had finally hit to say 'I told you so'. Not that it had made up for the devastation the Reapers had brought with them.

"Ah, Commander Shepard. Sorry. I didn't realize you were in here." A voice interrupted nervously.

She turned, greeting the Turian with a slight nod. The man was nothing like Garrus, but then, Garrus had been rather spectacular. A real mover and shaker. Septim was much more subdued and much more . . . twitchy and awkward. But then again, the Turian had just had his lover's former bondmate move in with them.

And it probably didn't help that his lover's former bondmate just happened to be Commander Shepard. Janezia had told her that humanity had practically deified her. She was no longer just Shepard. No, she was _the _Shepard. Common catchphrases like "by God" had become "by Shepard" in the time since her death. It was . . . disconcerting for her. She could only imagine what it was like for him.

"I can leave if you'd like." She offered. He'd been staying clear of her as much as possible and she could respect his wish to do so. It was a far more polite reception than she'd been expecting. After all, she was an intruder here and a possible threat to the life he had with Liara.

"No." The Turian said quickly then hesitated for a moment before coming to stand next to her by the floor to ceiling window.

She let the silence reign, watching waves crash over stone and gulls foraging in the shoals. This was peace. This was what she'd fought for. So that people could go home and just enjoy the view without having to worry about it being destroyed tomorrow.

"I . . . apologize, Commander. I have not been as friendly toward you as I should." Septim said after a few minutes of silence.

She glanced at him, quirking an eyebrow. "Really?"

"I feel like you're mocking me." The Turian replied.

"Hardly. You have my respect, Nero. If we were in opposite places, it's very possible that you wouldn't have still been breathing." She explained.

Septim's mandibles flared and eyes narrowed, registering the threat.

"But," She continued before he could interrupt, glancing away and back out the window. "since we aren't in opposite places, I can bow out with grace."

Sure, she could say that, but it was probably about the least graceful thing she'd ever done. Liara had been there for her from the start and Liara had always been the only person that had been able to make her pulse quicken. Even her night with Garrus had been little more than an act of desperation before hitting the Collector base. A desperate attempt to find something that mattered, to find a little comfort, before what could very well have been the end. Best friends turning to each other in the absence of the ones they'd really wanted.

Easing stress together, as he'd called it. But Liara had been different. Liara had never been about desperation, even if their first time together had been desperate. Liara had been about finding someone she could count on. About finding someone she knew would always have her back. Someone to come back to.

Still, she'd never been selfish enough to make someone else suffer for the sake of her own gratification. Liara had obviously moved on with her life. She'd taken a lover. She hadn't been trapped in the Asari rut of never getting over their partner. Which she was grateful for. It was good that she hadn't ruined Liara.

She just wished she hadn't had to see it.

"Thank you, Commander." Septim nodded.

"Just Shepard is fine, since I'm not technically with the Alliance anymore."

There was another drawn out silence during which she wondered just what else he wanted from her. He should have left. He'd gotten what he'd wanted. She'd practically handed Liara over to him with a bow. Passing the torch. Whatever.

"She never told me about you. Not until just recently when she found out you were being held in stasis. I've never seen her quite that fervent." Septim finally revealed.

She frowned, leaning against the glass. "She was just evening the score. The first time I met Liara she was trapped in a Prothean security field on Therum. I got her out of it. Situation's not that much different, if you think about it."

"She's more cautious than to let herself get trapped." Septim said.

"Now, maybe. Back then she was about the most naive and socially awkward person I'd ever met." She smiled nostalgically. "It was kind of charming. Of course, the Krogan and Geth that Saren had sent after her also probably contributed to her getting herself trapped."

"You saved her life." The Turian rumbled appreciatively.

She shrugged. It had been a constant game of give and take with them. A biotic push at a husk that had snuck up behind her, a bullet in the brain of the Cerberus stooge that was lining up his sights on the bright blue Asari. Teamwork made all the more potent by the way they had mapped every inch of each other's minds.

"Shepard, I -" Liara interrupted behind them, cutting off with a surprised "Oh.".

"I was just going." Septim said. "I have a call to make."

She watched him go, barely smothering a deadly glare when the bastard rubbed it in her face by lovingly caressing Liara's cheek. Instead, she averted her gaze, staring back out at the endless crashing of waves on the coast until he was gone.

"How are you feeling, Shepard?" Liara asked after a moment.

"I'm fine. You don't have to worry." She answered, hoping that none of her tension escaped in her voice.

"No. I supposed I don't. You've always known how to take care of yourself . . ." Liara said awkwardly.

"Pretty much." She nodded. It was a lesson she'd learned early – and the hard way – on the streets of New York. You couldn't get through life hoping that someone else would always come to your aid. It didn't meant that she didn't accept help when it came along, just that she didn't rely on it.

"How are you adapting to civilian life?" Liara asked.

She shrugged, unsure how to answer. She happened to vividly remember Liara asking her if she really thought the Shadow Broker could settle down and lead a normal civilian life after the Reaper threat had been dealt with. The answer to which had been an emphatic 'no'. But that was exactly what Liara was expecting of her. She'd been shown the extensive fake identity Liara had crafted for her the day after she'd come out of the freezer.

Alice Marler.

She'd burst out laughing when she'd seen it. Like so many marines do, she'd named her first gun – a sturdy, reliable Vindicator rifle. The little death machine had been named Alice, taking her down the rabbit hole into what was probably one of the most interesting military careers in human history. Not that Alice had survived long enough to see the end of the tunnel. She'd lost the gun on Akuze and had just been thankful to have escaped the encounter with her own hide still mostly intact.

Not that any of that mattered. It wasn't like she could really go around introducing herself to people as Commander Shepard. And there wasn't really a need for the ultimate soldier during peace time. Maybe the Alliance hadn't been all wrong, but they still should have just let her die. Now she had to adapt to normal society as well as try to get over the fact that she'd been out of it for over a century.

"It's not all bad." She answered. "Janezia is . . . a good kid, huh?"

On top of all the other shit, on top of waking up a century late and finding Liara had moved on, she'd also had to deal with the idea of having a child. No, not the idea of it. The reality of it. The girl was right there where she could see and touch her. A fully grown, vivacious and beautiful young woman.

"She is. She's the best daughter any parent could hope for." Liara agreed then hesitated. "Unfortunately, she had to leave. She doesn't actually live here with us and had to . . . return to her university. They were on the verge of a major breakthrough."

She snorted. It stung a bit that the girl hadn't come to say goodbye, but Liara had been the same way when they'd met – completely consumed in her work. "I guess she takes after you, huh? Academics."

Liara didn't reply, staring intently out at the ocean.

"I wanted to ask you some things, if you don't mind." She said, when it became apparent that Liara was content with the silence.

"Of course. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"Mostly I just want to know what happened to everyone else. At least for now while I'm still getting my head around everything. It's . . . weird for me to think that everyone I cared about – my squad – are all probably dead. I mean, for me, I just saw them a couple days ago."

"I know. It must be hard for you." Liara said sympathetically. "Who did you want to know about specifically?"

"Garrus." She said, but couldn't judge if Liara was upset that he was the first person on her mind or not. Liara's expression was too guarded.

"Garrus died of old age about ten years ago now. After the invasion, he served as the voice of his people."

She smirked. "Primarch Vakarian, huh?"

"No." Liara shook her head. "He never officially held the title of Primarch, but everyone knew who the power behind the Primarch was. He served as chief adviser to four Primarchs during the course of his life."

That sounded more like Garrus. He'd never been one after the thrill of the spotlight. If he had, the identity of Archangel would have been more well known.

"Kaidan?"

"Kaidan was promoted to Admiral and served as a credit to your people. But he died in his mid-sixties from a complication with his amp. He was married though. One of Ashley Williams' sisters, if you can believe it. Their children live not too far away from here."

"And Tali?" She asked.

Liara frowned, her expression darkening a bit. "Tali . . . died prematurely. She was . . . murdered a few years after the invasion. A senseless death."

She exhaled heavily at the news. She hadn't really expected everyone in the galaxy to just magically get along now that the Reaper threat had passed, but it was still agonizing to learn that one of her closest friends had become a victim of a violent crime.

"What happened to James?" She asked.

"Admiral Vega served with Kaidan and helped to rebuild Earth after the invasion. I'm not sure who decided to promote him, but he didn't do that bad of a job. Better than I expected in any case. He recently passed away from old age. He was rather long lived for a human." Liara answered.

As she'd thought. Everyone was dead. Too much time had passed. "What about Wrex? Grunt?" She asked, hoping for some good news. Krogan had lifespans that rivalled the Asari. She had no idea how old Wrex was, but Grunt had practically been newborn, hadn't he?

"They're alive. . . as far as I know. We haven't kept in contact." Liara said distantly.

Shepard frowned. Even if they hadn't kept in contact, it was unlike Liara not to keep tabs on them at least. She was still the Shadow Broker, after all, and Wrex was the leader of the Krogan – a VIP.

"Did something happen between you guys?" She asked. Maybe they'd fought and Liara had cut all ties with them. But it still seemed strange for Liara not to have any information.

Liara was quiet for a long minute before nodding slightly. "Yes. Something happened. I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

"Sure." She agreed, not pushing. If the subject upset Liara, she wasn't about to bring it up. She could always ask someone else about the Krogan later.

* * *

><p>"Liara." Wrex said, watching the holo image of the Asari closely. He wasn't exactly an expert at dealing with Asari, but even he could tell something was a little off. Well, that and he hadn't heard from her in years now. Last time they'd talked directly, she'd explained it to him nice and easy like.<p>

He was a liability.

As the former Asari representative, she couldn't risk associating with him if he followed through with his plans for war against the humans. However, as the Shadow Broker, they had her full support. Hell, it was only thanks to her that they'd been able to start this war to begin with.

There had been a whole lot of grumbling and muttering about the injustices they had to suffer from the humans, but they hadn't been able to do anything about it. His fault, really, but he'd trusted that all humans were somewhat comparable to Shepard. He should have known better. When they'd offered a chunk of land for the Krogan to settle on – small, but it wasn't like their numbers were going to grow since he hadn't brought any females with him to the battle on Earth – he had willingly agreed to disarm.

He'd hoped the Krogan could grow past the point where they were only good for war. But when he'd watched as his first Krogan comrade had died of starvation – of all the shameful ways to go! - he'd changed his mind. The Krogan had been made for war. The Salarians had made sure of that and while there was still bad blood between the Krogan and those sneaky little pyjaks, he knew the Salarian settlement wasn't in that much better shape.

Sure, they could eat. The land the Salarians had been given could actually grow crops, but they'd had their tech taken away. The humans were afraid the Salarians might try something tricky like the genophage on them. The Salarian settlement was searched on a monthly basis. Anything more advanced than an omni-tool was confiscated. It had thrown the little bastards into a dark age. Of course, that didn't mean the Salarians didn't send them what contraband they managed to hide from the humans.

And harsh restrictions had been placed on the Turians. They weren't allowed a standing army of more than a couple thousand. But theirs was a martial society to begin with. Some of the Turians were trying to branch out into civilian life, but with an entire society shaped around the discipline of military life, it was a bit hard. Mostly, they'd stopped having as many children to stay within the bounds of the human-made law.

So he'd done what he'd been made for. He'd rallied his troops and started talking of war. It was what Krogan excelled at – fighting the enemy no one else had the guts to. And of course his close, personal friend the Shadow Broker had happened to overhear his intentions. A shuttle had _mysteriously_ dropped off a shipment of restricted weapons, medi-gel, rations and intel on nearby human installations the very next day. It had been like a build it yourself war kit.

"Wrex." Liara replied with a curt nod. "I'll make this quick. Please withdraw your forces back within the prescribed Krogan boundary and cease all hostilities."

He glared. "Humans got to you?"

"No. I just . . . I can no longer support your war efforts." Liara said.

"Who is it, Liara? I can take them out if you've been compromised." He offered. It wasn't like her to change her mind like this.

"I told you that's not it." She said firmly.

"Then what is it?" He demanded.

"Just withdraw." She ordered firmly.

He glared. She'd obviously forgotten that he didn't answer to her. He was the leader of the Krogan and he would be damned if he just nodded and went along with whatever ridiculous order she could utter.

"I won't. If we withdraw, we die. You know that. Even if we could survive on that spit of land in the Gobi they gave us, you know the humans wouldn't let us live now that we've raised arms against them." Wrex growled.

Liara frowned and glanced away. "If you won't listen to reason -"

"It isn't reason!" He snapped. "It's suicide."

The Asari hesitated. "Goodbye, Wrex." She said, ending the transmission.

He growled, a low rumble in his chest as he replayed the conversation in his mind. What had spooked her? It wasn't like Liara to lose her nerve.

Even without her support they could continue their resistance. The Shadow Broker wasn't the only one backing their war with the humans. The Turian hierarchy – or what passed for the Turian hierarchy these days – was also sending them covert assistance. No one else had the quads to openly defy their so-called saviours, but it didn't mean they wouldn't send them a care package every once in a while. Whether that care package contained supplies or intel depended on who it was coming from.

"What's wrong?" Grunt asked, resting his shotgun on his shoulder. The tank-bred Krogan was a credit to their clan. He was by far the best soldier Wrex had and had rightly gained his place as his second in command.

"The Shadow Broker has withdrawn her support." He grumbled as he looked over their rough camp. The smoking ruin of the town they had just ransacked was visible in the distance, but far enough away that the smell of the bodies didn't bother him.

This wasn't the future he'd envisioned for the Krogan.

"Coward." Grunt said. "The Vorcha are reproducing quickly. What do we do about arming them if we can't rely on Liara anymore?"

The Vorcha – survivors from what had once been the Blood Pack gang – had it worse than the Krogan. They, along with the Batarians hadn't been granted land in the aftermath of the invasion. Instead, they'd been forced to survive on the fringes of society. Without an established and recognized government, they were treated as little more than animals by the humans. It hadn't taken much convincing to get them to join the war. At least the Krogan treated them slightly better than rats.

"I'll see what the Turians can send us." Wrex grumbled. Barring that, he'd arm the Vorcha with sticks. They reproduced fast enough to replace any significant losses anyway.

* * *

><p>AN: And the plot thickens!<p>

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave me a review. I love hearing from you.

Allora


	4. 4: The Inevitable

Chapter 4: The Inevitable

Shepard was getting restless. She wasn't used to this. Wasn't used to staying in one place and not having something to do. It had been bad during her forced incarceration, but this was worse. At least when the Alliance had grounded her and taken away the Normandy, they'd also restricted her movements. She hadn't been active because she hadn't been _allowed_ to be active.

This was totally different.

Peace had made her obsolete. Now there wasn't really anything that she _could_ do. All she had ever been was a soldier. Before that, she'd been nothing but a street urchin. A petty thief or, when the situation called for it, a common thug. Anderson had changed that. It was Anderson that had taken her off the street and made her into a damned fine soldier.

But she doubted she could fall back on the life of crime she'd once had. She was too disciplined for that now. Too law-abiding. Too used to authority and obeying orders. That, and it was a pretty pathetic way to go. From commanding the Alliance's most advanced frigate to pickpocketing unsuspecting victims on the street was quite the fall from grace.

All the same, she knew she had to get out of there soon. Liara seemed pleased that she was there, but she was still intruding. She didn't want to be an imposition. She didn't want to make Liara regret getting her out of the freezer.

Maybe she could join the police or something. At least she'd be putting her skills to good use. Though after the freedom of working as a Spectre, the red tape of conventional law enforcement didn't really appeal to her either. How many hours had she spent listening to Garrus lament over the bureaucracy and political BS that came with being a cop?

She was all for following the law and all for keeping the peace. But sometimes that wasn't enough. Sometimes a little creativity was required to make delinquents fall in. She'd seen it dozens of times. Sometimes a punch to the gut or a gun to the head was necessary to get shit done. It wasn't her preferred modus operandi and she usually made attempts at negotiation first, but sometimes that's just the way it was.

She doubted the local police force agreed with the sentiment though.

She sighed again, restless. She'd stayed within the confines of Liara's rather expansive residence on the coast since she'd been freed. If the Alliance was out to reclaim their missing toy, it wouldn't have done to have her walking around in public. But since she'd been reawakened, Liara hadn't informed her of any activity on that front. The couple times she'd asked, the Asari had told her that it seemed like they had gotten away with it without the Alliance figuring it out.

So a little walk wouldn't hurt.

Besides, she had her magnificent fake identification cards with her. If anyone asked her if she was Commander Shepard, she denied the charge and brought out Alice Marler's id's. Knowing Liara, they would likely hold up to even the most thorough of inspections.

Making up her mind, she headed for the door, shrugging into one of Liara's warm winter jackets and a pair of boots. It was kind of convenient that they were basically the same size. It was also convenient that she was home alone right now.

Liara had 'gone to work'. Apparently she didn't run the Shadow Broker's network from her home. It worked for her. She had no idea where the Turian was, but it's not like he would have informed her as to why he was leaving the house. All she knew was that he was gone. That she was home alone and it was as good a time as any to sneak out and have a look at what peace looked like up close.

It felt like an age since she'd even considered the prospect. Sure places like the Citadel and Illium had seemed peaceful when she'd visited. But those had only been oasis's in an otherwise turbulent and war-torn galaxy. It had never really been true peace.

She left the house, stuffing her hands in her pockets as she made her way up the street towards a slightly busier road. It was snowing slightly, fluffy wet flakes falling and landing in her hair, though they melted as soon as they came into contact with anything, leaving the sidewalk wet and grey.

She breathed in deeply, smelling the fresh air from the ocean only a couple dozen meters away. There was just something about Earth's atmosphere that she would never be able to forget. Colonies and other planets just weren't the same, and no artificial environmental system could replicate it. She'd tried.

Even EDI hadn't been able to get it right and had taken it as a shortcoming on her part. Shepard had just told the AI that that's what it was like to be human and shrugged. It was a life lesson. Some things were just beyond our capabilities.

She frowned, wondering about the AI. She should have asked Liara about her. What had ever happened to EDI? She'd heard that the Normandy had crashed. That even Joker's impressive piloting skills hadn't been able to save it. Had EDI died with the ship? Or had she transferred the entirety of her programs into the mobile platform she'd taken over? Would she have even have had the time to do that?

She hadn't gotten the opportunity to ask about Joker either. Or Hackett. Or any of her old Cerberus crew members. After she'd brought up the Krogan, Liara had made it clear that she didn't really want to take a trip down memory lane about all of their dead friends and had promptly changed the subject.

She was a sucker for punishment, but she couldn't really blame Liara for not wanting to dwell on the loss of their old friends. Liara would eventually lose everyone except for other Asari. No one else had the longevity of the Asari. Liara would bury countless friends. Countless lovers. She'd bury Septim and be forced to move on.

The idea of living for an age had seemed exciting when she'd first met Liara – enviable even. But now that she knew what it was like to have outlived almost everyone she'd ever cared about, it was more pitiable than anything.

She sighed, crossing the street and making her way into a convenience store on the corner. Part of her new identity had been new bank accounts which Liara had ensured were stocked with 'average human earnings'. Whatever the hell that meant. She took it to mean that she wasn't a millionaire but that she'd at least be able to buy herself a drink. And possibly some news feeds. You know, to catch up on current events.

She entered the store, scuffing her wet boots across the rug by the door as she came in before heading directly towards the hot beverages station. But she was only halfway to her station when the news vid playing above the counter stopped her in her tracks, panning across the burning wreckage of a town.

"Scattered reports say that the Krogan militia entered the small town of Choushuidun in China's north some time between eight and ten in the evening last night, slaughtering anyone in their path. Only a few dozen of the eight hundred residents managed to escape the carnage alive. Local security footage managed to capture a recording of the insurgence. Be warned that the images are graphic and could be disturbing to some viewers." The news anchor said, before the image of the wreckage was replaced with a handful of Krogan marching down the street with their guns drawn, firing at anything that moved. There was a fire in the background and a pair of humans trying to flee down the street. The Krogan shot them down with businesslike efficiency.

She stared at the footage uncomprehendingly for a moment before another Krogan joined the group, though this one was familiar. She'd have known that ugly mug anywhere. It was Wrex, right down to the three long gouges taken out of his face. Wrex gave the other Krogan some orders, pointing towards something off screen.

"This is the third attack on settlements in northern China in the last week. Authorities are aware of the Krogan in the area though seem to be unable to put a halt to the Krogan advance. Residents in nearby towns have been urged to evacuate. They've also been urged to take their most useful items with them. The Krogan leave nothing but destruction in their wake – no food, no shelter and even water sources are poisoned to ensure that no one can survive behind their front line. This brutal scorched earth policy has left a wake of casualties numbering in the tens of thousands."

Wrex was killing her people.

Her hands hung loosely at her sides for another moment before curling into tight, angry fists.

That son of a bitch Wrex was killing her people! And Liara hadn't told her! There was no way Liara didn't know about this. That she'd known that Wrex has started a war on humans and hadn't told her – even when she'd directly asked about him – was no better than a lie.

She turned on her heel, storming out of the convenience store and back to the house where she kicked off her boots and shrugged out of her coat, leaving them in a wet mess on the floor by the door. She then proceeded to Liara's home office and bypassed the lock – EDI had taught her a few things during their downtime between missions and the lessons had come in handy.

The office was dark and silent and _clean. _There were no loose data pads scattered across the desk along with artifacts she'd dug up somewhere or an academic journal that she'd just _had_ to read like her office in the first Normandy. It also lacked the plethora of monitors and cables strewn across the place like her office in the second Normandy.

Instead there was a single desk, the top smooth and black, along with a chair. There was only a single console, so it was easy for her to figure out where to go. EDI's lessons were once again put to good use as she sat down in the leather chair at the desk and began hacking the system.

Liara was brilliant, but she was also someone who lived for centuries. Time passed differently for her and she hadn't changed that much. Plus, EDI had had her break into the Shadow Broker's Network as practice. Well, actually she'd thought the AI had been using the opportunity to brag a bit about the security of her own network, but the lesson had still been illuminating.

As it was, it took her less than fifteen minutes to break through Liara's security and gain access to the Shadow Broker's network. When she did, she almost wished she hadn't. The reports were worse than she'd feared. This had been going on for years already. The Krogan uprising had only been particularly newsworthy today because their efforts had picked up momentum.

She couldn't believe Wrex would do this. Couldn't believe that after all of those speeches about creating a new future for the Krogan, he turned around and made war on her people instead.

She frowned and opened a file at random. It was coded as Alliance Project-1474R05-2 and was mostly interesting because it was the only Alliance report Liara had received in recent history. She felt sick a few minutes of scrolling through it later. It was a transcription in which G. Raleigh proposed her being thawed out and put to use against the Krogan. It was all very sterile and inhumane, as though she were an inanimate object. Just a weapon, instead of a person they had invested billions of credits in to bring back to life.

That seemed like child's play compared to the next record she accessed. One from last night that had been archived.

_"Wrex, I'll make this quick. Please withdraw your forces back within the prescribed Krogan boundary and cease all hostilities."_

Shepard's blood chilled. That was Liara's voice. She'd know it anywhere.

_"I can no longer support your war efforts."_

She'd lied. Liara had lied right to her face. But this was so much worse than not keeping in contact with the Krogan. She had been actively supporting the Krogan insurrection. Liara had supported Wrex in the slaughter of thousands of innocent humans.

These were supposed to have been her _friends. _These were the people she had trusted to the ends of the galaxy. These were the people who had followed her into hell when the Reapers had invaded. These were the people she had put her faith in to help her unite the galaxy, and now they were working against everything she had ever worked for.

She was disappointed in Wrex. But Liara's actions were by far the more offensive. She had still loved Liara as strongly as though a century hadn't passed – which, to her, of course it hadn't passed – but these actions were all too indicative that Liara had changed her mind.

And she could read Liara's thoughts like a book. End the conflict quickly so Shepard doesn't get involved. Cut dies and leave the Krogan out to dry before Shepard finds out what I've done. And in the meanwhile, she'd been busy keeping her distracted. First with the daughter she'd never known she'd had, then with her new Turian lover.

How long had Liara thought she'd have been content to just sit here cut off from the rest of the world?

She had to leave. This was it. She was done. She couldn't just sit here while innocents died due to the actions of people she had once called friends. She was still Alliance. She was still a marine and damned fine soldier.

She could make a difference.

* * *

><p>Marcos Vega was tired and jetlagged and not looking forward to another god damned meeting with Admiral Raleigh. The man was always . . . meddling. And then he was never pleased with the results. Well, no fucking wonder. Give him a job and he'd do it, but give him enough god damned resources to accomplish his objective and keep the Admiral's twitchy little fingers out of the operation.<p>

He sighed heavily, massaging his forehead to sooth his headache away. He'd lost another two men last night. God damned Krogan. Bad enough that they were already hulking masses of muscles and destruction, but when you shot them they could just regenerate. It was a losing battle.

An then, of course, he had to deal with the Admiral. He'd barely managed to drag himself back to his base camp before the Admiral was calling for him. Demanding that he return to Vancouver to answer to why the Admiral's brilliant plan hadn't gone through.

Obviously it had to be his fault. Because obviously the Admiral was never wrong.

He scowled, his mood souring further. He was tired of losing his men. Tired of having to come back to face down an Admiral who had his head shoved so far up his ass he couldn't even see the light of day. A man who was more interested in power than he was in saving lives.

That wasn't what Marcos had signed on for. And it for damn sure wasn't what his grandfather had stood for. It was embarrassing that Raleigh shared the same rank as his grandfather.

"I've had enough with your attitude. Now, you're going to let me speak with Admiral Raleigh, or I'm going to jump over this counter and break your face." A disgruntled voice snarled, drawing his attention away from his own dilemma.

It only took a glance at the reception desk to figure that the girl probably deserved the treatment. Ensign Holly Labaroux was a notorious bitch. All the same, he'd probably get in shit if the girl was assaulted while he just watched on from the sidelines.

"Is there a problem here?" He asked. Yes, it was cliche, but it worked.

The disgruntled visitor turned to level a glare at him from a face the entire world knew. It was probably the best Commander Shepard impersonator he'd ever seen. Not that he considered himself an expert on the subject, but he'd seen a bunch of old holos of her that his grandfather had had and this one looked pretty realistic.

"No. There's no problem." She said, eyes roving over him critically, as though weighing her odds in a fight. Now, he was no hulk, but he was still pretty sure he could take down this five foot nine slip of a woman. So it bothered him when she dismissed him and turned her attention back to Holly behind the counter as though he were no more dangerous than a puppy.

"Listen, the sooner you send me on my way to the Admiral, the sooner I'll be out of your face." The impersonator bargained.

"I can't do that. Admiral Raleigh has a prior appointment. He's a busy man and he doesn't have any room in his schedule. I've said all of this before." Holly snapped.

"You also said that even if he were free you wouldn't let a disrespectful, impersonating freak like me in to see him." The Shepard impersonator growled.

Holly blushed. Apparently she'd muttered that just a little bit too loudly. Though it wasn't the first time she'd been caught at muttering under her breath or whispering to Ensign Petrikov who usually worked the front desk with her. He couldn't count how many times he'd overheard the two girls running a quiet commentary about the most desirable men in the foyer. He was both proud and embarrassed to know that he'd rated as a five on their scale.

"That's not -" Ensign Labaroux sputtered, attempting to recover.

And that's when a completely wicked idea came to him.

"Hey." He interrupted again, earning another glare from the impersonator.

"I said we're fine here." She snapped.

"Well, I'm Admiral Raleigh's appointment, so do you want to come in with me or not?" He growled back.

Somehow, the idea of siccing an irate Commander Shepard impersonator on the Admiral was too good of an opportunity to pass up. He'd catch hell for it later, but it would probably be worth it in the end. He could always play dumb and say that the woman had told him she had an appointment with the Admiral and that he'd only offered to show her the way to his office.

She froze, snapping her mouth shut on what would no doubt have been another disgruntled retort and reined in her glare. "Yes, thank you." She said politely.

"Commander Vega, Alliance Navy." He introduced, offering his hand to shake while he ignored Ensign Labaroux's scandalized expression.

She surprised him by snapping a textbook salute before shaking his hand. "Jane Shepard." She said. Her handshake was firm and unlike what you'd expect for a woman, but then if she got off on pretending to be Commander Shepard, the strength of her handshake was hardly the most worrying thing about her.

She fell into step beside him as he made his way further into the base, down busy halls as they garnered the attention of pretty much everyone they passed. He couldn't wait to see Raleigh's face when he brought her in. He wasn't looking as forward to getting reamed out though.

"You know, that's probably the most realistic Shepard impersonation I've seen." He said for the sake of making conversation.

"You seen a lot of them?" She asked, more curious than defensive.

He shrugged. "A few."

She shook her head, as though she couldn't believe it.

"There much money in it?"

"In what?" She asked.

"Impersonating her. You know, birthday parties, stags, and the like?"

She actually faltered a step and his hid his smirk at the shocked expression on her face. Okay, so she probably wasn't the kind of Shepard you could get to jump out of a cake at your buddy's birthday.

"No." She growled firmly.

He gave up on trying to converse with her after that and rode the elevator up to Raleigh's office in silence. Sherry, the Admiral's receptionist, gave him a strange look as they came in, but she knew him and that was apparently enough to vouch for the impersonator. She waved them on through to the inner office.

"Admiral Raleigh." He said as he came into the office, snapping to attention. The old man had obviously once been in good shape, but years of sitting in a cushy office instead of hauling ass on the field had turn the man soft. Add to that the full head of grey hair and he looked like someone grandpa – which he probably was.

"Commander -" The Admiral began, his tone already evidently displeased, but he cut off when his gaze landed on the impersonator.

Marcos had to bite his tongue to keep in the snicker at the simultaneously confused and angry expression that crossed the man's face. But it was nothing compared to a moment later when the woman spoke.

"So you're the asshole who proposed setting me out to thaw." She said, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "What was the exact quote . . . ah, 'an asset we're just sitting on for the sake of an eventuality that may never come to pass while our soldiers uselessly throw their lives away against an enemy they can't beat'. That was it, wasn't it?"

"Where did you get that information?" The Admiral blustered angrily.

"The Shadow Broker." The woman growled. And suddenly this became less of a joke. He had no idea what the hell was going on, but it was obviously enough to make the Admiral sweat – which hadn't been his intention. "A few days after I was thawed out."

"That's . . . that's impossible. We would have known if . . ."

Whatever it was they would have known was never uttered because the Admiral was already scanning the impersonator with his omni-tool. "Impossible." The man muttered again before turning away from them and contacting someone via his omni-tool.

"Peterson! Check on subject 1474R05-2."

There was an annoyed sigh from the man on the other end of the transmission who patiently went along with the command. "What am I looking for, Admiral?"

"It's there?" Raleigh asked, sounding cautious.

"Yes, of course it's here." Peterson said.

"Open it."

"Sir, we still haven't received the proper authorization to -"

"Just open it, Peterson!" Raleigh snapped. "Do as I say or I'll make sure the only job you'll be able to get is as a high school biology teacher."

There was a long pause on the other end of the transmission before the man, who it seemed was a scientist of some kind, sighed. "Yes, sir."

Marcos had no idea what the hell was going on, but it had something to do with secret Alliance science project and this Shepard impersonator. She was obviously pissed off about it, though if she really were an escaped test subject from some top secret Alliance experiment, why would she have come running into an Alliance base? He sidled closer to the Admiral, putting himself between her and his commanding officer.

Whatever she was planning, it probably wasn't good.

There was a startled gasp from the other end of the transmission a few minutes later. "She's gone, Sir! Commander Shepard is gone!"

"She's standing in my office." The Admiral said grimly, cutting off the transmission.

Wait. What? Huh?

They didn't actually think that this woman was the real Commander Shepard, did they?

"I want some God damned answers." The woman growled, causing the Admiral to swallow nervously.

"As you wish, Commander." Raleigh said.

"How did records of the Lazarus Project fall into Alliance hands?" She demanded.

Marcos knew about the Lazarus Project. Everyone knew about the Lazarus Project. Cerberus spent billions of credits reviving Commander Shepard to fight the Reapers. Today, it was widely acknowledged that while the project had been undoubtedly unethical, it was also probably the thing that had saved the galaxy from total destruction.

Judging from this conversation, it was beginning to sound a lot like they'd done the same thing to her again. That this really was the infamous Commander Shepard in the flesh. And he'd asked her if she jumped out of cakes. . . Oh, he was never going to live that down.

"We don't know. We assume that the Illusive Man planted the information in our systems moments before you destroyed his base." Admiral Raleigh said.

"Impossible." The woman said immediately. "The Illusive Man was too far gone at the end to do anything against the Reapers. He'd never have passed on information that would revive me."

"Well, Miranda Lawson confirmed that the information passed on to the Alliance was the authentic Lazarus Project notes. Someone in Cerberus seemed to have wanted you to survive the Reaper invasion."

"_Miranda_ was involved?" She demanded.

Admiral Raleigh nodded, looking acutely uncomfortable. "Miranda Lawson went rogue in the final stages and tried to terminate the project."

"Of course she did." Shepard sighed. "You probably didn't tell her you intended to keep me in the freezer until then. Better to be dead than stuck in limbo. What happened to Miranda?"

"She was executed for treason."

She sighed, bowing her head for a moment. "Too much to hope that Miss Perfect would be able to tough it out long enough to meet again."

"Commander . . ."

"Who proposed putting the Lazarus Project into action again?" She asked, then shook her head. "No, I guess it doesn't matter now. They're probably already dead. What happened to Admiral Hackett? Did Anderson make it out of the Citadel?"

"Admiral Hackett died of a heart attack three years after the invasion. Admiral Anderson died in action. His body was found close to yours." Admiral Raleigh answered.

Marcos wasn't sure if he should plug his ears or not. In his experience, knowing too much was often as dangerous as not knowing enough. Part of him wanted to excuse himself and leave, the other part was far too enthralled with the thought of this actually being Commander Shepard. She was talking about prolific war heroes like Admiral Hackett and Admiral Anderson as though it had only been days since she'd last seen them, instead of decades.

He'd grown up on stories about Shepard. His grandfather had been only too pleased to regale him with stories of travelling all over the galaxy with the infamous Commander Shepard and even Admiral Alenko had caved a couple times and told stories about going after Saren. And yet here she was, the greatest hero in human history, standing in Admiral Raleigh's office looking halfway between breaking down and punching some one.

"I assume the Alliance gave Anderson a proper burial instead of sticking him in the deep freezer next to me?" She asked.

"Yes. You were the only subject the Alliance revived." Raleigh agreed.

Shepard sighed heavily, shoulders slumping for a moment before she composed herself and saluted to the man. "Sir, I'd like to apply for reinstatement."

For a moment he thought the Admiral would sag in relief, but he composed himself enough to return the salute. "You do?"

"Yeah. I'm not exactly thrilled with the Alliance's actions, but since I've already been rebuilt and revived, I'm not going to let innocent people die when I can stop it. I hear you have some Krogan heads that need smashed together. And I've got a little score to settle with them myself." She explained.

"We would be honored to have you serve with us, Commander." The Admiral said. "As luck would have it, the man who brought you here is leading the Alliance's defence against the Krogan."

"If he's supposed to be leading the defence, why is he here?" She demanded. "Surely you have long range communication in place?"

The Admiral glanced away. "It's become apparent that the Shadow Broker has ears everywhere and that the Krogan have struck a deal with him. We've lost a lot of soldiers because the Shadow Broker has alerted the Krogan that we were coming. We decided this was safer."

She grimaced, but nodded in acceptance. "Ineffective, but I guess it makes sense."

"Actually, I wanted to ask you how you got in contact with the Shadow Broker. If we know how to get in contact, we might be able to find a way to take him down." The Admiral explained.

Shepard glanced away and shrugged. "Through an agent, just like everyone else."

"Of course." Admiral Raleigh sighed in disappointment. "Well, in any case, welcome back to the Alliance, Commander Shepard. Commander Vega will brief you on the details of the Krogan insurgence."

"Sir." She said, snapping a salute.

* * *

><p>Someone had broken into her home console. It was heavily encrypted since it connected directly to her the Shadow Broker's networks. It should have been next to impossible. But then, the house alarms hadn't been tripped.<p>

That meant that either the intruder was a master at infiltration, or that it had been Shepard. To Liara, the second possibility was worse.

If Shepard found out, if she wasn't able to reveal her involvement in the current political situation in the right way, it was possible that Shepard would cut ties with her. Which was unacceptable. She might not have made up her mind yet about what to do with her love life, but she knew that she loved Shepard.

She couldn't lose her. Not now. Not after so long. Not when they'd only just been reunited.

She left her office at a dead run and sped her shuttle back towards the house, aware that she'd racked up a rather significant fine for running through a stop light. But when she arrived, the house was silent.

She swallowed nervously, staring at the wet puddle on the foyer's floor. She already knew exactly what files had been accessed. Ones about Shepard's resurrection and records of her involvement with Wrex.

Where would Shepard have gone with that data?

She was alone. She didn't have any allies left and she was stuck in a time where the world was unfamiliar to her. Who could she run to when this oasis proved not to be the sanctuary she'd been hoping for?

Liara was afraid that she already knew the answer.

She brought up her omni-tool with tangible dread and put a call out across the Network for any trace of a revived Commander Shepard. It only took minutes for a confirmation to come in. Shepard was at the Alliance headquarters in downtown Vancouver. She'd just been reinstated.

She cursed, slamming her fist into the nearest wall. She'd driven Shepard right back into the arms of the people who had betrayed her in the first place. The one thing she'd wanted for Shepard – peace – was the one thing the Alliance would never give her. To the Alliance, Shepard was far too valuable of a soldier to be wasted in a non-combat role.

She let out a shaky breath. What did she do now? Just sit here and mope? Cry? Once, maybe, that would have been her course of action. But that was decades ago. She wasn't that socially awkward archaeologist anymore. She wasn't just going to let this pass. Not when there was a chance she could still salvage the situation.

Sure it looked bad, but if she could get Shepard to stop and listen to her for an hour or two, if Shepard let her explain, she could still salvage this situation.

She turned on her heel and ran back out to the car, acquiring three more fines for erratic driving as she made her way to the Alliance headquarters. She was acutely aware of the fact that she was the only alien in the building as she made her way towards the reception desk, doing her best to ignore the confused and semi-hostile glances that were sent her way.

"I want to speak with Commander Shepard." She demanded.

"You and everyone else, Asari." The receptionist sighed.

"You don't understand. I know her." She tried again.

"Yeah, I've heard that one before too." The girl behind the counter said.

She curled her fingers into a fist, but her attention was dragged away from the receptionist at the sound of a rowdy cheer from the rest of the patrons of the lobby. It was Shepard, sporting her Alliance blues with the distinctive three stripes on the shoulder. It was like stepping back in time or being trapped in a memory. When Shepard had cut her blonde hair short again – practical and out of the way like she'd always liked it – she'd thought the pang of nostalgia had been potent. But it was nothing compared to this.

There were a hundred people in the lobby between reporters and soldiers from the base, but she still somehow managed to catch her old lover's eye. For a moment, there was nothing and no one else in the universe, then Shepard broke the connection and snapped a salute to the amassed crowd. The soldiers and reporters when nuts over it before Shepard said something quietly to the man standing at her shoulder and turned her back on the crowd, following the man down a corridor further into the base.

Liara watched her go with a lump in her throat. No words had been exchanged, but for two who had had their minds entwined as closely as she and Shepard had, words weren't really necessary. She'd gotten the message. She'd understood it all in just that one look.

It was over.

* * *

><p>AN: Yeah . . . a long time between updates. Don't expect the pace to pick up. I've decided to focus primarily on my Code Geass fanfics and so this oen has kind of fallen by the wayside. Updates will be sporadic at best and non-existent at worst. I only just finished replaying through ME3 and the new ending, which spurred this on a bit. I hope you enjoyed, don't forget to review.<p> 


End file.
